On Aug. 15, Hizb-ut Tahrir (Party of Liberation, a Sunni organization with Pan-Islamist goals) held an "international media conference" in Beirut. The conference was titled “Gaza … Rather All of Palestine Seeks Victory from Muslim Armies.” At the conference, Mahmut Kar, a Turkish representative of Hizb-ut Tahrir, gave a formidable speech, asking, “Where is the glorious Turkish army? Is it not the best army of the Middle East and eighth-best in the world? We as Hizb-ut Tahrir call upon the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF). For a long time, you have disregarded your religious calling (jihad). You are silent about Gaza. We warn you: Come to the righteous path of jihad in the name of Allah and specifically defend Gaza, and in general liberate the Muslim world from its miseries.”
A young cadet of the Turkish navy watching the video with a gentle smile on his face told Al-Monitor: “Is it not lovely that even marginal Islamist movements in Turkey trust the military?” Kar’s speech did not find any space in mainstream media. A few ultraright marginal Islamist publications reported the conference. Only a decade ago, a call to jihad to TAF by an Islamist organization would have been scrutinized by the media and public, but today it is not even newsworthy. TAF has been out of public sight.
